This invention is directed to an optical fiber connector assembly and, in particular to a single mode optical fiber connector assembly.
Single mode optical fiber connectors are well known in the art. They generally include at least one conically or cylindrically shaped plug containing an optical fiber. A housing for receiving a plug having coaxial conically shaped recepticals or a cylindrical channel therein aligns the plug with either a second similar plug aligned within the housing or an optical fiber integrally contained within the housing. The fiber is contained within a channel in the plug and transmits light to the second optical fiber by direct end-to-end contact, or near contact, between the fiber ends.
These prior art devices are less than completely satisfactory. Because of the small size of optical fibers they suffer significant loss of light transmission in the presence of microscopic particulates that cling to the alignment housing or the plug. They also suffer from the inherent difficulty in aiming a small beam of light at a small optical fiber target. This results in the need for extreme positional accuracy between the two optical fibers to avoid such loss. Other prior art devices overcome this by using lenss in the plugs to produce wide beams of light. However, extreme angular alignment accuracy is then required due to the difficulty in focusing a wide light beam at a small fiber core. Accordingly, a single mode optical fiber connector that overcomes the shortcomings of the prior art devices described above is desired.